Cheapskates rolls on as skateboard shops come, go

Dec 27, 2013 - Cheapskates owner Ron Hale prepares a new skateboard for a customer inside his shop. Cheapskates has been a staple of the Memphis skateboarding scene for 28 years. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Dec 27, 2013 - Cheapskates owner Ron Hale (left) removes wheels from an old skateboard belonging to Trey Brossett, 13, for use on a new board Brossett purchased at the shop. Cheapskates has been a staple of the Memphis skateboarding scene for 28 years. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Cheapskates has seen the competition come and go many times since it opened in 1985.

Owner Ron Hale, who says Cheapskates is Tennessee's oldest skateboard shop, is watching yet another round of the comings and goings.

Meanwhile, the locally owned Midtown Skate Shop announced this month that it will close after being open little more than a year, citing competition from Zumiez.

The message posted Dec. 22 on the Midtown Skate Shop's Facebook page states: "... Since Zumiez opened up, my sales have been cut in half. Can't be coincidence. They are doing this all over the country. Moving into small markets, local shops close..."

Zumiez placed its Memphis store at the epicenter of the region's retail trade. Midtown Skate Shop, 651 N. McLean, sits in a middle-income neighborhood next to the venerable Dino's Grill and near the tony Cafe Eclectic.

Meanwhile, Cheapskates endures in a gritty strip center at 1576 Getwell, where a young woman walked back and forth on the street Friday morning, where an adult "boutique" does business less than a block away, and where discount and cash-advance stores seem to flourish.

"For a sport so populated with kids not old enough to drive, (Hale) was in a part of town that wasn't really in anybody's neighborhood," recalled musician Steve Selvidge, who grew up in Midtown. "We used to have to take a bus over there, or you would do whatever it took to get your parents to take you to Getwell."

Selvidge describes Hale as "gnarly," an image Hale seems to embrace. Hale does not look the other way if panhandlers, prostitutes or even drug sellers try to do business with his customers.

He said he tells them he has friends on the police force and threatens to make their lives "a living hell" if they interfere with Cheapskates' business.

But Cheapskates is not thriving. In fact, 2013 was such a tough year that Hale has been selling off his personal collection of vintage skateboards to make ends meet. The board he bought in 1985 sold on eBay for $6,350, mainly because it was autographed by members of the old hardcore punk band Black Flag.

Hale, 52, blames a poor economy and competition from Internet sales both for the demise of Midtown Skate Board and for his own lean year.

This Christmas proved no exception. On Thursday, the day after Christmas, Hale said, "I thought it would be packed today with kids with money in their pocket. It's a pretty day, so maybe they are out skateboarding."

For all the challenges, Cheapskates holds a big advantage over most competitors. Hale pays no rent; he owns the 1,872-square-foot store space.

His father, Bruce Hale Jr., bought the property in 1961 to open Memphis Speed Shop. It catered to drag-racing enthusiasts. The space was handed down to Ron in 1985 by his brother, who also had operated an auto performance shop there.

"I remember very well him standing behind the counter as I pulled out the first skateboard I ordered and he said, ‘This is the dumbest idea,' '' Hale recalled of his brother.

The popularity of skateboarding is cyclical, said the 40-year-old Selvidge, who took up the sport at 13. He believes Hale opened Cheapskates during a peak time in the 1980s, and credited Hale with having the grit to endure the up-and-down waves of popularity.

"Ron has been in the business a long time," Selvidge said. "He obviously has an established foothold. But to start a brick-and-mortar business in this day and age has to be tremendously difficult I would imagine."

During the course of an interview, Hale mentions several competitors from over the years, including Gadzooks, U.S. Male, and Hibbett Sports. He believes his stoutest competition doing Internet sales is CCS.com.